Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr
| Master Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1928 Tehran, Iran |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Education | Master Abolhasan Saba |
| Known for | musical instrument maker |
Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr is a musical instruments maker born in Tehran, Iran in 1928. When he was six his father died and the family financial situation got worse, so, after passing the fifth grade of primary, at age 11 he quit school and started working at tinny, Forging, Machining, and carpentry. Being interested in music, after a few years he was able to learn music with Master Saba, who started teaching him to play the violin, without charge. After spending a period of notation and familiarity with the steps and technics of Iranian and Western music, Saba suggested teaching him how to make violins. He and Saba he went to meet Soren Araklyan, a Russian immigrant and the author of Monverni, and learn his ideas and his research about music. Araklyan introduced Ganbari to the head of the Fine Arts Department, who offered him paid employment. After a year Saba died.
At 1960 Ganbari went to Watlo instrument making school in France to develop his skills; Atin Watlo was a famous specialist in striking instruments at his time. Russian violist David Ousterag visited the workshop, and Ibrahim Ganbari asked Walto if he could let Ousterag play his violin; his opinion was:
"Congratulations for your eagerness, talent and perseverance which has been put into your extraordinary made violin, I've seen such a perfect instrument which has the qualities together. I wish you great success in the future" Sincerely yours, David Ousterag Paris 16-06-1960
Ganbari finished his master's degree in instrument-making and returned to Iran. He started to invite different builders to his workshop to work together; some accepted, including Mr. Sanaati. So he could make more voiles some was meant for art schools and the rest were sold to enthusiasts. At 1969 the minister of art & culture of the time organized an exhibition of Iranian Instruments. At the exhibition Ibrahim's violins was played by a very famous violist who bought his violin directly and played with in many shows. People thought hat violin was made by Estrady Warious, but the violist always said: no, it's been made by an iranian master named Ganbari. After the 1979 Iranian revolution he retired, and kept himself busy in his small workshop at home, mostly trying to optimize the instrument's sound.
Ganbari says: an instrument maker is a master when he makes the instruments with heart and soul. One of his innovations is beautiful decoration for instruments called "MEHRKARI" which is a combination of various woods of different appearance with brass inlayed in wood. First thoughts of this art was started at the time of Saba, and now has reached its perfection. The name is given by a good friend of Ganbari based on "mehr" as a suffix in Ganbari's last name.
Innovation and reform on October Ghanbari professor of Iranian and Western instruments can be summarized as follows:
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Wikipedia